Right to education: Indian gets key U.N. post

International law expert Kishore Singh has been nominated as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education.

His candidature was presented by the government as well as by two judges of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, and supported by the Geneva-based Platform of NGOs on the right to education.

The appointment of an Indian to such a prestigious and challenging position in the U.N. system is most opportune in the context of the high importance attached in India for deeming the right to education as a universal right.

The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education has the thematic mandate to safeguard and promote the right to education worldwide. He is required to prepare and present to the Human Rights Council an annual global report, to interactive dialogue, suggestions and recommendations for advancing the right to education.

Dr. Singh is an internationally recognised authority on the right to education, and has contributed substantially to the development, application and better understanding of this right, nationally and internationally. He has been dealing with the right to education at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris for some years.